chapter1语言学introduction.pptVIP

Chapter 1Introduction Major branches of linguistics 1. Design features (Charles Hockett) Arbitrariness Productivity Duality Displacement Cultural transmission Arbitrariness 任意性 First discussed by Saussure (索绪尔) It refers to the fact that the forms of linguistics signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. Onomatopoeia ? jingle crash bang roll 叮当 喀嚓 砰 轰隆 meow bark 喵喵 汪汪 Mom 妈妈 Compound words ? Type writer ------ typewriter Shoe-maker Classroom Arbitrariness Language is arbitrary by nature (no logical connection between sounds and meanings)，but it is not entirely arbitrary. Arbitrariness makes it possible for language to have unlimited sources of expression. Productivity/creativity Productivity refers to that any language permits its users to produce new sentences never spoken before and to understand sentences never heard before. Displacement (移位性) Language can be used to refer to things, which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present or future, or in far-away places. The property provides speakers with an opportunity to talk about a wide rang of things, free from the barriers caused by remoteness in time and space. Animal calls are mainly uttered in response to immediate changes of situation. A gibbon never utters a call about something he ate last year. As a philosopher once observed “No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest.” Cultural transmission Language is not genetically passed down from one generation to another. Rather, language has to be learned through communication. The story of a wolf child, a pig child shows that a human being brought up in isolation simply does not acquire human language. 2. Definition of language It can be generally defined as: Language is a system Systematic---- rule-governed, elements in it are arranged according to certain rules; can’t be combi